Uchiha Shuffle
by Duesal Bladesinger
Summary: "You are not him. You lack sorrow. You lack hate. It's not that you've forgotten, but that you were never there." Chaos stirs as Uchiha Sasuke switches places at the worst possible time. A Road to Ninja story.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **The Naruto franchise is owned by Masashi Kishimoto, Shueisha, Studio Pierrot, TV Tokyo, and Viz collectively. Please support the official release.

**Cover: **Drawn by the talented DennisStelly at DeviantArt. Permission has been granted.

**Summary: **Chaos stirs as Uchiha Sasuke switches places at the worst possible time. A Road to Ninja story.

**Rating: **T (Contains violence and swearing.)

**Author's Note: **_Yes, this is a brand new story. The idea just wouldn't leave me alone. Dedicated to my (former) girlfriend whose birthday happens to be today._

* * *

**~o**0**O**0**o~**

**Uchiha Shuffle**

Chapter 1

**~o**0**O**0**o~**

_Canon_

The purpose of a fortress as is straightforward as it is old—keep the enemy at bay. To this end, people over the centuries have employed dozens of strategies, including stake-filled pits, crocodile moats, high stone walls, archer towers, higher stone walls, cast-iron porticos, and spiked metal gates among other things.

This fortress, however, was different. It _invited_ the enemy. Beckoned to them. _Come_, it seemed to murmur. _I have walls, but they will not keep you out. I have a gate, but it is not barred shut. I am yours to claim, if you have the courage to do so._

But deception lurked just beneath the surface of a gilded invitation.

Just as a crocodile seems unassuming at first, looking for all the world like a log floating by the water's edge, the fortress held a sinister purpose.

It was _hungry_. Every hallway bristled with traps, every room a potential tomb. Death lurked under pressure-sensitive plates on the floor and in still-functioning trip wire. If someone were lucky enough to dodge one ticket to hell, they were probably stumbling right into the jaws of another.

Such was to be expected from the former stronghold of a major ninja clan.

As the unwary intruder is lured in, he is drawn into a winding path. A maze in the broken, vine-infested halls of stone. Spikes from the walls laid in wait and swinging man-traps lurked unseen, shrouded in cobwebs and shadow. Anyone who enters this cursed place has doomed himself to die.

However, Uchiha Sasuke was far from the unwary, helpless intruder.

Strong and lithe at the age of sixteen, he danced around anything that came his way with a lethal grace, neutralizing the traps one after another.

He forged his way through a massive doorway twelve feet wide and twenty feet tall, the doors themselves long since gone. He had no idea what lurked in the dark corners, what hid in the places where light failed to reach, and he had no idea who presumed to use this fortress under the guise of an Uchiha. His senses were on overdrive, rapidly scanning his surroundings for any potential threats.

Absently, he registered the hideous state of disrepair. The stone walls were crumbling, cracks crept across the floor, and the local flora was slowly but surely reclaiming its lost territory. At one point a family of ducks waddled through the hallway right in front of him, stopping for a moment to quack at him, then continuing off to wherever it was that they were going.

Gods, this place was a mess.

The fortress was built like a maze to maximize opportunities for ambushes. The shinobi part of Sasuke's mind was imagining the possibilities of traps triggered by stone floors, of ambushes lurking in the dark corners. The rest of his mind was annoyed that he had to deal with the maze in the first place.

Sasuke's frown deepened as he took a right turn—the _only_ turn—and ended up in what appeared to be a throne room of sorts, with decorative symbols adorning the walls.

His face screwed up in confusion sight of the person occupying the throne itself.

"Itachi? What are _you_ doing here? This is a solo reconnaissance mission!"

Itachi said nothing, his expression—or lack thereof—as still and cold as a statue's. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Sasuke groaned, palm covering his face in exasperation. "Don't tell me mother sent you to find me again. I swear, I've told her a million times that I can take care of myself! Father agrees with me!"

Itachi only tilted his head: a strange, birdlike motion.

Sasuke winced at the perceived message. "I know, I know, I should be more careful." He chuckled sheepishly before gesturing towards the exit with a slight turning of his head. "We can get home before dinner if we hurry."

Itachi opened his mouth, then closed it, apparently struck speechless.

Sasuke took the apparent pause in the conversation as an opportunity to look around. "What _is_ this place?" he asked. "It's a good fortress." He looked behind him to the wall, laying a hand on the cool, coarse stone. "Solid foundations and a maze-like interior. This place is perfect for anyone with the manpower or skill to defend it. I wonder why it was abandoned, though."

He looked back to his brother, and stopped dead in his tracks. "Brother?"

Itachi, eyes unblinking and soulless, stared back

Sasuke fought the urge to flinch. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

He felt a chill creep up on him from behind.

_And why is your Sharingan activated?_

His mouth tasted like sand, and the hair on the back of his neck stood on end.

"Brother, are we in trouble?" Sasuke dropped into a crouch, rapidly scanning the throne room for any threats. There was nothing but dust, rocks, and his older brother. Still, his hand drifted towards his lower back into his shuriken pouch.

"No. We are alone."

Sasuke looked up. That was the first time his brother had spoken this entire time, but it was with a tone that he had never heard before. Cold, callous, and _biting_.

There was definitely something wrong.

"Itachi?" Sasuke tightened his fingers around five shuriken, his hand still in the pouch.

He met Itachi's eyes with his own, and the man burst into a murder of crows.

* * *

**~o**0**O**0**o~**

_Canon_

Sasuke stumbled back as crows burst forth from all around: black, loud, and with blood-red eyes.

"Brother!" Sasuke cried, "what is this?!"

He couldn't see anything, and all noise was drowned out by this wretched cawing. Panicking, Sasuke called forth the vaunted power of his clan.

_Sharingan!_

He watched as one by one, the crows dissolved into thin air. Sasuke narrowed his eyes. _Genjutsu?_

When the last had vanished, he turned. Uchiha Itachi sat regally on his throne, his expression rivaling a statue's in terms of showing emotion.

Sasuke tensed, and a bead of sweat trickled down from his forehead. "Brother?" The centuries-old walls of the fortress seemed to smother his voice.

Itachi looked down at him, his chin resting on his hand. "That Sharingan. How much can it really see?"

His voice. So _cold._

Sasuke swallowed and took a hesitant step forward. "Brother, what's—"

He stopped talking as Itachi literally vanished from his seat of power.

"You know, Sasuke," Itachi said. Sasuke nearly flinched in shock: the man was right behind him. "I had hoped for better from you. On that night, I told you to embrace your hatred and do everything to obtain power. But here you stand, empty of your hatred, and _weak._"

_What? What is he—_

A voice seemed to whisper in the cold, stagnant air.

_Run. Run and don't look back._

Itachi's hand flashed with steel and he spun around, intent on driving his kunai through his brother's neck. Sasuke stumbled back, utterly shocked that his brother was actually _attacking him_. He barely managed to avoid the death blow by leaning backwards like a tree swaying in the wind, his feet firmly rooted to the floor.

Itachi was not fazed. He followed through immediately, lashing out with a kick that Sasuke caught with both forearms, causing him to be thrown across the room and slammed into the wall hard enough to leave a small crater in the stone.

The younger Uchiha slumped to the floor with a gasp as the wind was completely knocked out of him.

"I honestly thought you'd be stronger," Itachi remarked casually, disappointment clear in his tone. "Did you really run off to train with Orochimaru and come back empty-handed? And not only that, you come to me speaking of impossible and naïve delusions."

_What? That doesn't make any sense! That never happened! And what delusions?!_

"Itachi . . ." Sasuke gritted his teeth. "What the hell do you think you're doing?! What makes you think you can just attack me out of the blue, huh?!" He looked up, red eyes whirling in defiance. "If you keep this up, don't think I won't fight back!"

The look Itachi sent Sasuke's way at that moment could only be described as utter contempt. "Foolish little brother. Do you think an enemy would simply wait for you to prepare yourself? Do you really think that _I_ will _allow_ you the time to prepare when you've so brazenly stepped into my den?"

Sasuke blinked, then stood on shaky legs. "Brother, what is this about? Why are you—"

He was cut off as Itachi rushed up to him, kunai palmed in each hand. He slashed, and Sasuke had no choice but to block with his own kunai, lest he lose his throat. Itachi smiled, reversed his grip on his blades, and _whirled_. Sasuke was forced on the defensive, desperately evading and deflecting strikes aimed for his neck, throat, and eyes. During the furious exchange, he saw an opening and grabbed Itachi's arm, forcing him to stop in his assault.

Itachi _did_ stop, but only with his arms. Using Sasuke as a platform, his legs catapulted up with a tremendous force. Sasuke had to duck under it. When he did, Itachi slipped out of his grip like a wraith, landing feet-first on the ceiling and hanging there like a bat. Sasuke looked up, Itachi looked down, and steel met steel as the two brothers fought each other from the ceiling and the floor, jumping between the two as easily as they'd use stones to cross a creek.

Shuriken fell like rain, each one meeting another with a deadly clash of bright gold sparks. Neither relented in their assault, because hesitation at a time like this would almost certainly mean death.

After several minutes of throwing, dodging, and deflecting, both Uchiha ran out of shuriken.

Back to square one.

Sasuke panted, glaring all the while. "What are you playing at? Why are you attacking me?"

Itachi looked completely unaffected by the recent exchange, his breath even and not a hair out of place. He tilted his head to the side, as though Sasuke was some sort of fascinating insect he'd never seen before. "How strange," he murmured. "All of that hatred, hatred that I've cultivated for _years_. Where has it all gone?"

_Hatred? What hatred?!_

"What are you—" Sasuke trailed off and stared as Itachi's sharingan slowly stretched, the tomoes reaching for both the border of the irises and the pupil.

"It seems that I must remind you," Itachi said. "I will force you to see the strength that hatred offers."

Sasuke's eyes widened, and he broke into a cold sweat.

_Run! Run and don't look back!_

The voice was _screaming _at him now, the sound ringing in his ears over and over again. And he wanted to. Oh, he desperately wanted to run, but he couldn't _move._ It felt like something was pinning him to the floor. Some kind of pressure, like the weight of the very sky had come crashing down on his head.

The world stopped spinning when Itachi's expressionless face twisted into a grin.

His voice was winter.

"Tsukuyomi."

* * *

**~o**0**O**0**o~**

_Road to Ninja_

A world away, Uchiha Sasuke found _that_ man waiting in a very different place than he had imagined.

It was not some out-of-the-way fortress, it was not some secluded forest glade; it was in the middle of the bustling city of Tanzaku Gai. And he was sipping tea of all things, nonchalantly lounging in a small restaurant while the waitress asked if he'd like anything else.

What was he plotting? Why would Itachi be _here?_

Sasuke tightened his grip on the snake-sword at his waist, slightly drawing it out of its sheath to be removed at a moment's notice.

Slowly, he walked forward, his every step cautious and calculated. It was a busy street, packed with vendors and shoppers, but people took one look at the sword at his hip and his murderous gaze before they scrambled to get out of the way, watching from the edges of the street. He had quite the audience by the time he finally reached Itachi. He came to a stop at the table where the man was now calmly sliding some dango off of its stick with his teeth.

Itachi looked up, and did something that completely threw Sasuke off guard. He _smiled_.

"Ah, little brother. What a surprise to see you here. Why don't you join me for some tea and a small snack?"

Sasuke didn't know what to say, didn't know how to react to this murderer _smiling_ at him, inviting him to _eat together_. His fury railed inside of him, begging to tear at this man that so mocked him. What, did Itachi actually want to drink tea? To_ 'discuss their relationship issues'_ over sticks of dango? The very thought made Sasuke's blood burn. How _dare_ Itachi mock him so, and all the lives he took! How _dare_ he calmly drink and eat with the same hands that—

Abruptly, one of his oldest memories surfaced in the back of his mind.

_He and his mother were walking home from the market, their arms laden with groceries (and in Sasuke's case, tomatoes). They talked, they joked, they teased and they laughed. Sasuke and his mother were happy._

_Then they came home to blood and death and the horror of murder. Sasuke threw open the door to his house, only to find his father's throat slashed out._

_No! Nononono! How could this be happening?! How could—_

_"Foolish little brother."_

_Behind him._

_Sasuke turned, and saw Itachi press a blade to their mother's throat._

_His eyes widened. "Brother, what are you—"_

_"Sasuke," his mother interrupted, her terror plain on her face. "Run! Run and don't look back! He'll kill you if you don't!"_

_Sasuke was about to protest, when hot blood sprayed all over his face._

_He felt his world fall apart when his mother slumped to the floor, her throat gleaming with a red smile._

_Itachi looked at her corpse dispassionately. "You should have listened to her," he said. Then he turned, and his eyes glowed in the moonlight. "But I'm glad you didn't. You saved me the trouble of hunting you down."_

_He took a step forward, and Sasuke stumbled back, desperate to get away._

Sasuke stared, and the image of his mother's body lingered, her throat mercilessly slashed open.

Her voice rang through his mind like some terrible bell.

_Sasuke, run!_

Itachi frowned when his brother didn't move, simply staring at him. "Sasuke?" he said. "Is something wrong?"

Then Itachi saw the half-drawn sword, the unfamiliar clothes, and the lack of Konoha's headband. He grew cautious, his body tensing with apprehension.

"Sasuke, what troubles you?"

The younger Uchiha chose that moment to attack.

His eyes flared red, and dozens of shuriken screamed through the air.

* * *

**~o**0**O**0**o~**

_Road to Ninja_

Tanzaku Gai ground to a halt as shuriken flew all over. The deadly flying stars tore into stalls, burrowing deep into the wooden frames. The ground was littered with shinobi steel within the span of a heartbeat.

There was a moment of absolute silence as everyone stared at the source: a young, dark-haired man with eyes that glowed like a demon's. Facing him was the famous Uchiha Itachi, a member of the mercenary group known as Akatsuki.

Slowly, the details began to sink into the minds of the onlookers.

Someone was confident enough to challenge Uchiha Itachi.

Someone was confident enough to challenge Uchiha Itachi _here_.

There was a beat as everyone finally realized what that meant; if they got in the way, they would almost certainly die.

Instant pandemonium.

"Move it! Move it!"

"Shut up and get out of my way!"

"Hurry up!"

Parents grabbed their children, vendors grabbed their money and whatever wares they could carry, and regular shoppers simply dropped everything but their purses and hightailed it out of there.

The entire street was cleared in roughly twenty seconds.

Throughout that time, Sasuke glared down at Itachi who had somehow managed to deflect every single shuriken while seated.

"What do you think you're doing, Sasuke? What do you seek to accomplish by attacking me?"

Sasuke started at the question and stared at Itachi in incredulity, at the honest _confusion_ in Itachi's voice. He laughed a bitter, bitter laugh. So Itachi would try to screw with his head _now?_ Right when he had him cornered like a rat?

"What do I seek to accomplish, _Itachi?_ Is that not obvious?"

Itachi frowned at the pure murder in Sasuke's tone. "Not entirely. I ask that you explain the meaning behind your actions just now. Vandalism is frowned upon."

Vandalism? _Vandalism? _Someone who murdered his entire family had the nerve to talk about _vandalism? _Sasuke wanted to _laugh_, to shove this bastard's words down his throat, but he took a deep, shaky breath instead. "I've waited for ten years, done nothing but train, nothing but _hate_."

"Sasuke, what are you—"

_Ox._

Chakra surged, and Itachi's words died in his throat.

"I've abandoned my village—"

_Rabbit._

It ignited, lighting Sasuke's face with an angry blue glare.

"—and stolen Orochimaru's power—"

_Monkey._

It focused to a razor-sharp edge.

"—all so that I could finally _kill you!_"

One thousand birds sang a hymn of electric death.

Itachi's eyes widened and his mouth fell open. He jumped out of his seat and backed away.

Sasuke rushed forth, his hand wreathed in a lightning blade.

* * *

**Author's Note:**_ Who do you think will cause the most damage? Canon!Sasuke, or RtN!Sasuke? And why?_


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary: **Chaos stirs as Uchiha Sasuke switches places at the worst possible time.

* * *

**~o**0**O**0**o~**

**Uchiha Shuffle**

Chapter 2

* * *

**~o**0**O**0**o~**

_Road to Ninja_

A dango stall was systematically pulverized as Itachi leapt clear of some sort of a lightning jutsu. Sasuke wasn't phased, immediately rushing through the hand-signs for another attack.

A gout of chakra-laced fire proceeded to blast through the northern sector of the market district. As clay tiles fell to the stone cobbles of the street and windows shattered, spilling shards of glass in and out of burning buildings, Itachi simply shunshin'd out of the way and looked at the growing fire in a way that almost seemed like dismay.

Sasuke couldn't be certain, but he thought he'd heard his brother muttering something about outstanding property-damage reparations for Konoha. He growled as he alighted on one of the rooftops that wasn't on fire. Was Itachi _mocking_ him?

He put the thought to the side as he hurled a brace of shuriken in a curving trajectory. Itachi didn't bother to block them, seeing as they weren't even aimed at him, but his eyes widened when the ninja wire attached to them tightened and sent them whipping around his body. Once the shuriken had looped around Itachi three times, effectively immobilizing him, Sasuke snarling face turned scarily blank.

A second later his hand was crackling with lightning and bursting through his brother's back.

Itachi twitched, blood dribbling from his mouth before he sagged and dissolved into a murder of crows. Sasuke pulled his hand free and stared at the hollowing body in silence, watching as the ninja wire went slack once it no longer had anything to bind. Of _course_ it wouldn't be that easy.

In a single fluid motion, he turned, drew his snake sword, and slammed the flat of the blade straight into the kunai that Itachi brought up in a block. He pushed harder, testing his brother's strength, but was met with an equal resistance.

"Sasuke," Itachi said. The shinobi in question did nothing but push back even harder. All of a sudden, Itachi relaxed his grip on his kunai, allowing Sasuke to rip right through his guard. Sasuke very quickly realized that he was off balance. This was right around the same time that Itachi's knee collided just below his sternum with a sickening crack.

Most would have doubled over, gasping for breath while fighting the pain away. Sasuke merely grunted and shrugged off Itachi's attack like it was nothing, moving immediately to slice through his brother's side with a terrifying power behind his blade. Itachi calmly deflected the strike with the flat of his kunai, then almost contemptuously shoved his brother away with a palm-strike to the chest hard enough to force him land on a different roof.

Sasuke recovered flawlessly, rolling to his feet and using the momentum to propel himself up into the air towards his brother where he spat out even more fireballs. Itachi's sharingan flared to life and he slipped through each and every incoming missile, moving through the flames like a ghost. Sasuke landed on the same roof his brother was on, then immediately began sprinting towards him, sword at the ready.

"Sasuke," Itachi said again, "_listen_ to me."

Sasuke swung the sword straight through him, cleaving him from his shoulder to his hip. Itachi stared at his brother in complete shock, blood squirting from the slash across his torso before he dissolved into crows yet again, the birds cawing harshly as they ripped themselves free from his body.

The wind blew, fanning the fire that was quickly roaring out of control, and possibly for the first time that day Sasuke noticed the almost constant screaming as people tried to stop it from spreading. Inconsequential. Far louder were the screams of his dead kinsmen, all of them pleading to be avenged so they could rest in peace.

"Tell me, is there a reason you attacked me in the middle of a heavily-populated city? Is this another of your efforts to prove your own strength like an ignorant child?"

Sasuke turned. He and Itachi were suddenly standing in the empty street. There were panicked cries in the air, but there was no fire, no smoke, nothing. Even the dango stall was somehow whole again.

_Another illusion?_

"Can you hear them?" Sasuke asked. Itachi tilted his head, almost as if in bemusement. Sasuke's fists were shaking. "_I_ can hear them. Every scream, every moan, every last, desperate gasp for air. I can hear them like they're being killed right in front of me."

Itachi blinked, then frowned. "Sasuke, I am unaware of what you are referring to."

Sasuke chuckled, and Itachi faltered at the sound. That wasn't Sasuke's usual laugh. It was quieter . . . darker.

"The Tsukuyomi is an incredible genjutsu."

Itachi went rigid, and his breath hitched. How did Sasuke even _know_ about that jutsu?

"However," Sasuke continued, seemingly dismissive of his brother's shock, "it won't work on me anymore. I'm too strong for you now. My eyes have changed. _I _have changed."

In the back of Sasuke's mind a white snake chuckled in triumph, and its power released in a wave of ink and fire. Itachi could only stare numbly as his brother's body transformed until all that was left was a grey-skinned monster with mismatched wings and blood-red eyes.

Ice flooded his veins. "Sasuke . . ." _Is that really you?_

Sasuke blurred, and Itachi barely managed to dodge as his brother's lightning-cloaked hand speared through where he'd been only a second before.

"It's over, Itachi."

The air hummed with power.

* * *

**~o**0**O**0**o~**

_Road to Ninja_

The air was alive with lightning as countless bolts of electricity seemed to explode from Sasuke's body, some of them catching the power lines which in turn snapped and began to writhe dangerously. Itachi dodged them all, shifting and ducking out of the way with preternatural grace and speed. He blurred into existence right behind his younger brother.

"Sasuke, is this the power you supposedly stole from Orochimaru?" Itachi took a step forward, his now-red eyes rapidly scanning the way muscles bulged unnaturally under leathery grey skin. "It is tainted. Corrosive." Itachi's lips curled in disgust. "It still bears his _scent_."

Sasuke whirled around, demonic features twisted in a hellish snarl. "Don't you dare lecture me! With this kind of power I can avenge the Uchiha!" He lashed out with a backfist then jabbed with an elbow. Itachi smoothly blocked both attacks before brutally striking his brother in the kidneys and forcing him away.

The elder brother cocked his head. "Avenge the Uchiha," he repeated. "Sasuke, you're making no sense. Why would our clan need to be avenged?" He paused, examining his brother with piercing eyes. "It's that form, isn't it? It is twisting your judg—"

Sasuke didn't wait for him to finish, unleashing a giant fireball easily twice the size of anything he'd produced before, effortlessly demolishing an entire building through the force of the technique alone.

Itachi vanished, reappearing a dozen yards away._ How strange. He seems even angrier now._

He filed the observation away for later examination when his brother landed in front of him and blurred into an attack, sword cutting through the air and crackling with lightning. Even as Itachi drew his kunai, he knew that the sword wasn't something that could be parried. He instead stepped into Sasuke's guard, easily dodging the reflexive slash and making a blitz attack of his own at his brother's arm.

He was aiming to cripple, to subdue. He wasn't expecting Sasuke to actually _block_. As he jerked away from the numbing current of the sword after being forced to drop his kunai from the electric jolt that ran through his arm, Sasuke seized the opportunity to kick him square in the chest, hard enough to launch him off his feet and propelling him a few yards away.

_He shouldn't have been able to do that from that angle. The Sasuke I know isn't that fast. _Itachi's gaze sharpened even as the appendages on Sasuke's back flexed in challenge. _That form truly is monstrous._

The older Uchiha twisted in midair and settled on the roof of one of the buildings that wasn't currently burning to the ground, fixing his younger brother with a red-eyed stare. "What lies did Orochimaru feed you, Sasuke? How else has he twisted your mind?" _How else has he corrupted you?_

"Shut up!"

This time the fireballs were shaped like dragons, roaring towards their target. Itachi dodged with ease. The town wasn't so lucky. The fire was spreading fast, eating through the wooden buildings with a dismaying speed. Itachi was groaning inside. This was causing far too much damage already, and there would doubtless be more if this dragged on any longer. "Sasuke," he said, "I can no longer afford to indulge you like this. From now on I'll be fighting without restraint."

Sasuke's response came in the form of more fire, the heat searing the air between them.

Itachi almost sighed as he somersaulted out of the way. "Have I ever told you the definition of insanity?"

He ducked out of the way of another two fireballs. These two were harder to avoid, though, as they appeared to home into his chakra signature or something of that nature. Itachi merely baited them before jumping out of the way at the last second, allowing the flames to spill over the wooden rooftops as he dropped to the ground.

"Repeating the same action over and over, yet expecting a different outcome than all the times before."

Sasuke ignored the jab and blurred through more hand-seals before expelling another gout of fire. Itachi was almost embarrassed. Not only was his brother attacking him with the same techniques over and over again, he was _missing_. This was a disgrace.

He'd have to use a water jutsu to put the fire out after he was done subduing his little brother.

He was about to blur into his own attack, but stopped short when Sasuke's eyes flickered up. Itachi looked up as well, but saw nothing but plumes of black smoke against a front of clouds, the black steadily devouring the white.

"It's finally enough."

Itachi couldn't help his curiosity. "What's finally enough?"

Sasuke's skin appeared to be ablaze for a moment until the surface shifted, flames of the curse seal receding to their source. His skin-tone returned to its normal hue while his hair became dark again, his demonic features receding as his appearance returned to its human form once again.

_He has more than enough to keep going, so why? _Itachi wondered. _Is he trying to conserve that chakra?_

"The air. It's finally hot enough."

Itachi's brow twitched, and the barest signs of confusion forced their way to the surface. "Hot enough? What for?"

Sasuke cracked his neck, then looked back to his brother. "The rising heat from the fires feeds into the atmosphere. The air temperature increases rapidly, and an ascending air current is formed."

Itachi's confusion grew. "An ascending air current? What do you intend to do with that?"

The sky rattled with thunder, and it began to rain. The fires slowly died down, and Itachi relaxed almost imperceptibly as he realized that was one less thing he had to worry about.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when the air erupted with lightning, countless bolts of electricity striking home around them. His sharingan went on overdrive, tracking each and every bolt. With a sudden flash of comprehension, he realized that he was being herded. Trapped.

"I'll use it to make your death a reality."

Itachi's eyes snapped up to see Sasuke staring down at him from a distant roof, hand brimming with lightning chakra and raised up towards the heavens. Sasuke stared, and in his eyes Itachi saw nothing but a terrible coldness. "This jutsu guides the lightning down from the heavens. All I have to do is direct its power right at you."

Something cold settled in the pit of Itachi's stomach. "To harness the power of a storm. You truly mean to kill me, don't you?"

Sasuke tilted his head, as though in bemusement. "Was that ever in doubt? Come!" He opened his palm and a bolt of energy shot straight up, disappearing into the storm. Then the clouds parted, and an enormous dragon-like beast forced its way through with an earsplitting roar.

Itachi eyes widened to the size of saucers as he gasped despite himself, his normal emotionless display now completely abandoned. "You tamed a creature like that?" The beast writhed in the sky, its body flickering with bottomless power. It roared again, and Itachi winced as the world seemed to scream in agony.

Sasuke snarled, his voice consumed with hate. "Vanish with the thunder clap!_ Kirin!_"

The lightning-bearing hand came slashing down.

There was a split second when the world seemed to stand still. Then the beast lunged, and everything was swallowed in a wash of white.

* * *

**~o**0**O**0**o~**

_Canon_

The average genjutsu slips into its target's mind, dancing on the fine line between effective and perceptible. The Tsukuyomi needs no such subtlety. It invades. It conquers.

* * *

**~o**0**O**0**o~**

"Itachi!" It came out more like a strangled wail than a scream. "What did you _do?!_"

His senses had turned on him, howling in his brain. The iron tang of blood stained his mouth, and his feet failed to register any solid ground, and he knew with absolute certainty that his was heart beating in his chest so hard and fast that it might rip itself free. Sasuke's mind was still in the middle of panicking when the darkness fled and he found himself sprawled on the ground, nose jammed uncomfortably in the dirt. Stark relief swept through him like a breath of fresh air.

"Foolish little brother."

Itachi materialized before him. He didn't step out of the shadows, the shadows _made _him: a black specter with glowing red eyes.

Relief gave way to mind-numbing panic. Sasuke froze before slowly raising his head. His brother stood directly in front of him in an empty street of the Uchiha Compound. In the back of his mind, Sasuke realized that there was absolutely no way that this wasn't a genjutsu. The ghostly moonlight was impossible unless Itachi had suddenly discovered how to travel through time.

He got up warily, watching his brother's every movement as he stood. Slowly, the corner of Itachi's mouth twitched up in a mockery of a smile, and Sasuke felt a chill crawl up his spine at the sight of it. He'd seen his brother smile plenty of times before, but never like _that. _Never like a man who'd long since embraced his own insanity.

"How curious," Itachi said, taking one step forward, the unnerving smile still twisting his lips. Sasuke's eyes widened and he took a step back. "It's as though you truly don't remember." Another step forward, another step back. "I wonder, what could have made you forget? Especially now, right when we were to have our final duel." Sasuke bumped into a wall, and in the momentary distraction Itachi's hands clamped around his throat with the speed of a hawk snagging a mouse.

"What made you forget, Sasuke?" The question was somehow a demand.

Sasuke clawed at his brother's hand, and black spots swam in his vision as Itachi bodily lifted him off the ground. He tried to fight back, tried to _really _fight back, but he couldn't. It was like his body simply refused to obey. His kicks were as ineffectual as a child's, his fingernails failed to even break the skin of Itachi's hands, and his fists may as well have been gentle breezes for all the good they did. Itachi was no longer smiling. Somehow that was even more terrifying than the smile itself.

Itachi's grip tightened, and his voice grew harder. "_What made you forget?_"

The fingers were tightening, _squeezing_, but Sasuke still managed to hiss, "Forget _what?!_"

Itachi blinked, seemingly taken aback, then he relaxed his grip, allowing Sasuke to drop to the ground and gasp for air. "Playing the fool to the end?" he said more than asked, tilting his head a few degrees. "In that case, I will simply show you over and over again so that you'll _never_ be able to forget. This time you won't be waking up in a mere week."

An icy wind howled and the world turned in on itself, twisting and churning until the sky was red and _wrong_, and Sasuke was staring at his mother walking home with a familiar-looking child. Was that _him?_ How was this even—

"Burn this into your mind, Sasuke," Itachi whispered into his ear.

Sasuke turned swiftly, backpedaling as he did, but skidded to a stop when he saw his brother staring back at him. Itachi was _different_. The bags were gone from under his eyes, the lines running down his face were shallower, his skin was smoother, and he was suddenly four inches shorter. Most important of all, he was dressed in his full ANBU Captain's uniform, the scarred armor strapped over his chest and limbs.

Sasuke opened his mouth to say something, what exactly he wasn't quite sure. The words died in his throat when his brother vanished and their mother screamed.

"Sasuke, what are you doing?! Why are you just standing there?! _Run!_"

_"_I can't just _leave_ you here!_"_

"You should do what she says, Sasuke. It is becoming dangerous to be here."

_"_Why are you doing this?!_"_

"Sasuke, please run! _Please! _Itachi, you don't have to do this! You don't have to kill him!"

"Brother, _please!_ Not mother! Please not mother!"

"Goodbye, mother. Convey my greetings to father for me."

"_NO!_"

Uchiha Mikoto slumped to the ground, her clothes quickly staining red as blood gushed from her gaping throat.

Sasuke could only watch in numb silence while his younger self screamed his horror.

"Brother, why?! Why would you do this?!" It went on for almost a minute, Itachi passively enduring the wailing of his younger brother before Sasuke finally broke down sobbing over the body of their mother, clutching to her dress like a lifeline.

And suddenly, Sasuke _was _his younger self. He could feel the coarseness of his mother's dress in his fists, the horrifying warmth of her blood pooling beneath him, the way the broken sobs shook his small frame, and every bit of loss and crushing sadness, somehow knowing that it would never end.

Something brush against his cheek: something cold and clammy. He opened his eyes, and a block of ice dropped into his stomach.

His mother was sitting up again, staring at him, her loving expression clashing horribly with the bloody slash through her throat. He couldn't stop himself from shaking, from scrambling away from her touch. Pure fear crept up his throat.

"M-mother?" he whispered.

She smiled serenely, and the hair on Sasuke's neck stood on end. "Oh, Sasuke, my little boy." She reached for him, and he flinched away. Mikoto's expression filled with pain and hurt. "Why didn't you save me? Don't you love me?"

Sasuke stared.

His jaw moved up and down.

Tears welled in his eyes.

Almost as if to protect itself, his mind shut down.

* * *

**~o**0**O**0**o~**

_Canon_

"Pathetic. To think that you who presume to be a shinobi would be brought low by something so trivial."

A seven-year-old Sasuke continued mumbling to himself, running desperately through the clan compound away from his brother. Itachi easily followed him, predatory grace in every movement.

"I must say, though, I'm disappointed. Years and years of waiting for your strength to grow, only to amount to _this._"

Sasuke rounded a corner, slipping out of sight. Itachi hissed in annoyance before blurring into existence right in front of his brother. "What is it that you keep babbling?"

The child before him merely looked down and rubbed at his eyes, sobs shaking his shoulders. "Not . . . not real! None of it's real!"

Itachi scoffed. "One's reality might be another's illusion. We all live trapped in our own fantasies." He tilted his head, red eyes spinning. "However, it seems you're trapped in your own hell."

"Didn't you hear me, Itachi?" Itachi nearly flinched—that was _not_ the voice of a child. Sasuke looked up, and his sharingan whirled. "None of this is real." His form shifted and grew until he was a teenager once more. He raised his hand and looked his elder brother dead in the eye. "I've had enough." He snapped his fingers, and the world shattered, little fragments of reality tumbling away.

Within moments Itachi was on his throne in the fortress again, clutching at eyes that leaked blood while gritting his teeth against obvious pain. Across from him Sasuke stumbled and nearly fell, struggling to regain control of his own body. The younger Uchiha panted, red eyes darting around to verify his surroundings.

Itachi just glared. "You . . ."

Sasuke's head snapped up, and he instantly raised a kunai in warning. He wavered when Itachi broke down into a coughing fit, the wet hacks echoing throughout the throne room, but he never lowered his weapon.

Blood dribbled down Itachi's chin. He drew in a wheezing breath, then fixed Sasuke with a stare so enraged that the teen wondered what he'd done wrong. "Who are you?" he demanded.

"_What?_" Sasuke asked, now truly and utterly confused. First his brother _attacked him_, then trapped him in a genjutsu, and now he had the nerve to pretend not to know who he was? "Do you know how insane you sound right now? Mother's going to _love_ hearing about this."

Itachi's glare could have set him ablaze. "What have you done with my brother?"

Sasuke froze. "You . . . you actually think—"

"You are not my brother. Where is he?" Itachi's voice was a deadly hiss, and his face was absolutely murderous. Sasuke blanched as he took a hasty step back. He whitened further when Itachi rose from the throne and took his own unsteady steps towards him. "What have you done with him?"

"Itachi, I _am _your brother!" Sasuke was panicking now, backpedaling to put more distance between them—Itachi was actually going to kill him. Holy shit, Itachi was _actually going to kill him_. If he hadn't believed it before, there was absolutely no doubt now. There was no mistaking the fury in his eyes.

The elder Uchiha continued to stumble forward. "_You are not him_. You lack sorrow. You lack _hate_. It's not that you've forgotten, but that _you were never there._" He coughed and blood sprayed from his mouth, staining the stone floors red. "The Sasuke I know would fight to the very end. He was no coward. He always—" Itachi coughed again, and this time he didn't stop. He fell to his hands and knees, his entire frame shaking. Despite his instinctive desire to help his brother, Sasuke stayed back, having gained a healthy amount of caution over the past few hours.

"Itachi, I . . ." Sasuke paused, half afraid that his brother would suddenly lunge at him. Clenching his fists, he steeled his nerves and continued. "Let me bring you home. I don't know what's wrong with you, but it looks bad."

The older man ignored the words, continuing to cough his lungs bloody all over the stone floor.

"Itachi, you need _help_," Sasuke pleaded, his voice slightly more strained. He didn't risk moving any closer, though. As crippled as his brother seemed at the moment, he could still strike with the speed of a swooping hawk.

The coughing got even worse, getting louder to the point that Sasuke could barely hear himself think. Then Itachi collapsed on his stomach, seemingly dead to the world.

"Itachi!" Self-preservation be damned. Sasuke ran to his brother, turning him over and checking for a pulse. He sagged in relief when he felt it—weak and erratic, but still there.

Itachi's eyes flickered open, and Sasuke wondered if they had always been so glassy. "S-Sasuke . . ."

"Don't move. It won't be good for you." What was he going to do? The Hidden Leaf village was four days away, and the nearest village was at least six hours away when traveling at breakneck speeds. He couldn't just leave his brother like this.

"Sasuke . . ."

"I'm here, Itachi."

"No, you're not . . . you're _not_ my—," Itachi was cut off by his horribly congested coughs, the noise echoing in the stone-walled throne room.

A lump lodged itself in Sasuke's throat. He tried to convince himself it wasn't there. "You don't even know what you're _saying_, Itachi. Just rest for now. Help will—," Sasuke hesitated before gritting his teeth. "Help is on its way," he lied.

"What did you do to my brother?" Itachi's face twisted into a snarl, but it was clear that he was losing energy quickly. He was too weak to even move. Otherwise, Sasuke had no doubts that his brother would have tried to attack. "If you've done anything to him, _I will kill you_."

Sasuke felt like he'd just been stabbed in the gut. He swallowed, then took a deep, shaky breath. "Your brother is safe," he whispered. "We haven't done anything to him."

Itachi was clearly unconvinced, but he didn't have the time to say anything as he began to convulse, blood suddenly spraying from his mouth with congested coughs. Sasuke's eyes widened as he panicked. "Itachi?! Itachi!" He didn't know what to do! His brother was dying right in front of him and he didn't know what to do! "_ITACHI!_"

Then Itachi went still and Sasuke froze as well, too afraid to move.

There was a gasp for air, and one final whisper.

"_Liar._"

Itachi died with his face twisted in pain.

Sasuke simply sat there for the longest time, not knowing what else to do.

In the dim light of the throne room, his eyes gleamed a new red.

* * *

**~o**0**O**0**o~**

**Author's Note: **_Canon!Itachi was terminally ill, remember? His death was an inevitability. Poor RtN!Sasuke was unlucky enough to witness it and ended up awakening the Mangekyō. As for Canon!Sasuke and RtN!Itachi, you'll see what happens to them soon enough._

_Anyway,_ now who_ do you think is stronger?_ _Canon!Sasuke or RtN!Sasuke?_


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary: **Chaos stirs as Uchiha Sasuke switches places at the worst possible time.

* * *

**~o**0**O**0**o~**

**Uchiha Shuffle**

Chapter 3

**~o**0**O**0**o~**

_Canon_

The man who called himself Madara had watched everything unfold from the shadows. At first, he'd believed that Sasuke was trying to get Itachi to lower his guard. But then the boy kept up the act even after Itachi attacked and made it clear he had no patience for games. Oh, how that must have pained Itachi, to strike out at the one thing he still lived for.

As the battle dragged on, Itachi decided to up the ante and ensnared his brother in a deep Tsukuyomi, something that even Madara would have had trouble with.

Sasuke broke the illusion like it was glass.

That was . . . unexpected.

Madara knew that Sasuke had trained extensively under Orochimaru, but to be that proficient in genjutsu. That shattered his estimations of the boy.

The interesting part, though, was _after_.

Itachi, coughing his lungs bloody, claimed the impossible. "You are _not_ my brother."

Behind his mask, Madara frowned as he immediately glanced down next to him to where a humanoid figure, half-white and half-black, crouched to the stone floor. Zetsu looked utterly baffled. "That can't be right," the white half whispered in protest, his strange voice cloying the air. "Sasuke's chakra is the same. Replicating someone so perfectly is impossible."

"Your clones have that ability, Zetsu," Madara murmured quietly, still transfixed on the scene before him.

**"No one else has our ability,"** Black Zetsu countered. **"We're sure of that."**

Madara regarded the plant-human hybrid for a moment, then turned back to the doomed Uchiha brothers. Itachi had collapsed, and Sasuke was now screaming his name over and over again, as though trying to call him from the other side.

Itachi opened his eyes one last time and hissed, "_Liar._"

He died with his face twisted in pain and fury.

Madara watched, his interest soaring as Sasuke's eyes went wide on the edge of a familiar madness. He'd known that kind of pain before, when he watched girl he'd loved die at the hands of a man she trusted with her life. If he was feeling that kind of pain, Madara knew what was to come.

Just as the thought entered his head, he saw Sasuke's sharingan stretch and _spin_, and when the eyes settled, the pattern was that of a starburst.

"Mangekyō Sharingan," Madara observed. "It seems we have Itachi's new replacement."

The Zetsus turned towards him as one. **"He's not ready," **Black Zetsu argued, his voice like gravel against Madara's ears. "He's more likely to be a liability," White Zetsu added.

"He is vulnerable now," Madara said, authority seeping into his voice. "We shall twist him to our cause. Go distract the Konoha shinobi. I'll take care of Sasuke." There was a distortion of space, and Madara's body vanished into a dimensional rift.

With Sasuke in their hands, luring the Kyūbi away from Konoha's walls would be almost insultingly simple.

* * *

**~o**0**O**0**o~**

_Road to Ninja_

From the sky came a living bolt of lightning. With horns of a stag, a carp's whiskers, and a long snake-like body, it was a terrifying, glorious image: a creature of the gods, come down to earth to do man's bidding. It lunged with a piercing screech, so fast that Itachi barely had time to blink.

For a single moment, the world vanished with the thunder clap.

Then it was over. Itachi was flat on his back. The ground around him glowed a cherry red.

Sasuke lowered his hand, allowing the chidori he'd been holding to fizzle out, and the high-pitched chirps of electricity died away. Slowly, the storm overhead faded, most of the negative atmospheric charge having been spent in that single burst, and the clouds began to disperse. The jutsu he'd used was only limited to one attack, but that did not matter. It was a sure shot.

If there was one thing Orochimaru had been useful for, it was his near-limitless knowledge of jutsu. If the man didn't know a technique himself, he at least knew the theory behind it and from there could reverse-engineer it.

And now, one of those jutsu had granted Sasuke his vengeance.

He leapt to the ground, blithely ignoring the panic spreading out of control amongst the civilians all around him, steadily making his way to the Itachi's body lying face-up in the middle of a ruined street. He wanted to look at his brother's corpse up close, to smash its head in, to stab it in the chest over and over until there was nothing but a bloody pulp.

He would have preferred Itachi be alive for that, though. He'd earned it a hundred times over.

Sasuke didn't so much as look when one of the houses nearby collapsed with a groan of splintering wood, spewing burning ash every which way. The air sang with fire, and coarse smoke filled his lungs, but he ignored it. He didn't bother to listen to the screams of the townsfolk as they desperately tried to save their city. It was a necessary sacrifice, one that he'd gladly pay again.

He came to a stop at Itachi's body, and all distractions faded away. He'd done it. He'd made his vision a reality, and now Itachi was lying at his feet with his clothes blackened and smoking, his face pale, almost ghostly white, dark and drying blood spilling from his mouth down his chin. He found himself fascinated with his brother's regal features, slack and horribly burned.

Uchiha Itachi was dead at last.

Laughter, dark and boundless, bubbled up from deep within Sasuke's chest. He could feel the weight of the world being lifted from his shoulders, hear the damning cries of his murdered family begin to quiet.

It was finally over!

This was the happiest he had ever been in his entire life, a feeling of joy and relief so profound that he questioned if he was simply dreaming. Still laughing, he drew his snake sword, moulding the last of his own chakra into lightning that was sent coursing through the length of the blade. He stabbed down at his brother's chest with the full intention of desecrating the corpse until it was an unrecognizable piece of meat.

Itachi's eyes snapped open, sharingan-red and _very much alive._

Before Sasuke even had time process what he was seeing, Itachi had rolled out of the way and shot to his feet, and the snake sword buried itself into the street, its electric-honed edge easily slicing through the cobbled stone.

Sasuke's laughter died with a strangled gasp. He flinched back as Itachi appeared right in front of him, expression frighteningly dark.

"That is _enough_, Sasuke. You will cease this foolishness at once or I _will _stop you." Itachi did not yell. His voice was a tightly controlled whipcord of fury, his every syllable dripping with reproach.

"Damn you! Just _die_ already!" Sasuke focused for a moment, then clenched his jaw and curled back his lips in a snarl as he drew cursed power from the seal on his neck. It released in a wave of ink and fire, and at the last moment something _more_, but Sasuke paid it no heed, too focused on the man who had cheated death.

Itachi simply stared as Sasuke transformed into his monstrous form, and his sharingan pulsed, stretching into something unfamiliar and filled with power. The air around him shimmered a fiery orange as a titanic skeletal torso burned into existence. "If I hadn't used this Susanō, I likely would have fallen to your attack."

Something cold settled in the pit of Sasuke's stomach.

He screamed his frustration, then charged, his blade brimming with the strength of a thunderbolt. Itachi glared, and the Susanō gained flesh, armor, a cloak, and a spiraled shield. Sasuke struck, the Susanō blocked, and there was a ripple of energy as Sasuke was sent flying back, his sword completely torn from his grip and hurled in the opposite direction far from his reach.

After dozens of yards of skidding across the street, Sasuke pushed himself to his feet and growled at his brother, not quite exhausted but close to it.

"This is the shield known as the Yata Mirror," Itachi explained, answering the unspoken question. "It can reflect any attack without fail. Give up. There is no possibility of victory for you."

A soul-killing sense of hopelessness came over him, and Sasuke faltered. Was this really the end? All of that work, all of that pain and suffering only to fail? Would his family never be avenged?

In the dark confines of his mind, a familiar raspy voice whispered poison in his ear.

_It hurts, doesn't it? To be so helpless._

Sasuke's eyes screwed shut as the seal on his neck suddenly _twisted_, and a pain so deep it was intimate began to radiate from it in agonizing pulses. Sasuke fell to his knees, clutching at his neck, unable to even move.

_You need me, don't you Sasuke? I thought you were going to get your revenge._

The pain from the curse seal grew intense and focused until Sasuke wasn't even sure how he was still alive.

_Now, release my power! Then your vengeance shall be within your grasp!_

White snakes sprang forth from his neck, tearing themselves free of their host, and Sasuke screamed as he felt a sensation like his soul was being ripped from his flesh. His blood was fire. His bones were cracked. His senses were fading, but the pain was not. The pain was growing and growing, and Sasuke could do nothing to stop it, completely at its mercy.

Eight serpents the size of buildings hissed and tasted the air with forked tongues, their fangs dripping with venom. Their scales were white, their eyes were yellow, and they were all connected at the base to Sasuke's curse seal.

If Itachi had been angry before, now he was downright murderous. His eyes were wide with rage, and his jaw was clenching so tight that his teeth were beginning to crack.

The Susanō giant around the older Uchiha held up one hand, and a gourd came into existence. The giant popped off the cork, and in a flash a liquid gold blade had beheaded two of the snakes. The others hissed and struck, poisoned fangs bared, only to crash into the Yata mirror and have the force of their attack directed right back at them, sending them reeling. Another flash, and three more heads fell lifeless to the ground.

Two of the snake heads wrapped around the Susanō, seeking to immobilize it, to squeeze it and _break_ it. The giant struggled for a moment, its arms pinned to its sides, then in one fluid motion it threw off the snakes and slashed, beheading them both.

The last snake paused to stare at its fallen brethren before looking skyward and opening its mouth as wide as it could. At the back of its throat, something slimy and black emerged.

"You've finally shown yourself." There was no inflection in Itachi's voice, but the tone was dangerously low and menacing.

The shiny black something paused and seemed to shake with laughter before it emerged further. Orochimaru tilted his head back, and his hair fell away from his face, revealing pale skin and reptilian yellow eyes.

Then the agony paused—_paused_, not receded—and Sasuke heard the voice of a man he'd personally killed.

"Kukuku, Uchiha Itachi. I must thank you for weakening Sasuke like this. Now that all of his repressive chakra is gone, I was able to emerge! Now's my chance to take over his body! Now I can—"

Itachi's eyes pulsed, and the Susanō giant whipped its liquid blade forward and pierced Orochimaru straight through the middle of his chest. The Snake Summoner blinked a bit in surprise before letting out a mocking laugh. "Ignorant child, did you really believe that something like this could—" He went rigid, and his pupils shrunk to pinpricks.

Itachi smiled grimly. Tears of blood trailed down his face. "This is the end for you, Orochimaru."

Orochimaru screamed, his voice given volume by rage and terror, "This sword, it can't be! The Totsuka Blade?!"

The Susanō giant twisted the wrist of its sword arm, and Orochimaru gasped as the blade wrecked havoc on his organs.

Itachi raise an open hand, then suddenly clenched it into a fist. "Disappear."

Orochimaru wailed as he melted and his body lost form, helpless as he was reeled in by the liquid blade. The white snakes he was attached to soon followed, not a single scale spared from imprisonment, and within a moment they were all sealed away into the gourd.

All but a tiny, white serpent that had detached itself before it could suffer the same fate.

It did its best to slither away, hoping to escape in the commotion.

It died in a surprise burst of Amaterasu, and Itachi spoke with quiet murder, "Did you truly believe you could _get away?_" The snake only continued writhing, burning away until even the ash was gone. After that, the flames burned on nothing but air, and they would continue to burn for seven days and seven nights with the unforgiving heat of a great black sun.

On the ruined streets of Tanzaku Gai next to the crisping serpent, Sasuke knelt in utter exhaustion. His curse seal was gone, as was the accompanying pain, but his power had abandoned him. He was helpless.

He could only stare, absolute horror dawning on his features as he blindly stumbled back. "You—Why are you still alive?! Why won't you just _die?!_"

Desperate hands reached into his weapons pouch and rapidly hurled a pair of kunai laced with several lit exploding tags attached to each. They predictably clanged off the shield of Itachi's Susanō and detonated, the explosions unable to so much as scathe the ethereal armor.

Sasuke flinched back, a damning sense of hopelessness beginning to encroach on his mind.

Itachi's eyes narrowed, "Even with Orochimaru's wretched influence no longer staining you, it seems your mind is still poisoned." The strange sharingan spun, and Sasuke found himself desperately moving back as Itachi forged his way towards him. "Tell me, Sasuke, what was so worth it to you that you'd try to kill me? What twisted promises has Orochimaru made? Power? Knowledge? _Immortality?_"

Sasuke backed into a wall and his pupils shrunk as he began to hyperventilate. "Damn you, Itachi!"

He was cornered, and after calling the Kirin he had completely run out of chakra, leaving him with no means of defending himself. But that didn't matter. He would not die sniveling and weak. He _refused_ to let it end like this.

"_Burn in Hell!_"

With a roar of berserker fury, he charged, palming a kunai in each hand. If it came down to it, he'd strike at that shield over and over until it finally stopped reflecting his attacks, and then he'd rip his brother's throat out with his bare hands.

Itachi vanished from his field of vision. Tired as Sasuke was, his sharingan wasn't activated, so he couldn't track the motion. Even if he could, it wouldn't have mattered. Itachi was simply too fast, too skilled.

Something hard hit the back of his head. Darkness swallowed his vision, and his mind faded to nothingness.

_I failed . . ._

* * *

**~o**0**O**0**o~**

_Road to Ninja_

Itachi looked over his brother's unconscious form, anger and worry warring within him. "What has Orochimaru done to you, Sasuke?" he whispered to himself. "How could none of us have seen?"

There was a sudden hiss of steam and the sound of a great rush of water, and Itachi felt himself get completely drenched as water came pouring from the sky without warning in a torrential downpour. All around him civilians began to cry with relief as the fire that had been raging out of control was finally neutralized. Itachi would have been on guard because that was a _jutsu_ that had just put out the fire, but he could easily recognize the source of said jutsu.

Three figures landed in front of him. A tall, lanky man with a mask over his mouth, wild silver hair, and a Konoha headband tugged over one eye; the son of the Yellow Flash, a grave teen with spiky yellow hair and cold blue eyes; and Lord Fourth's daughter with short pink hair framing a wide forehead and a bright emerald gaze.

The remaining members of Team Seven, arrived at last.

"Yo, Itachi!" Kakashi greeted, so cheerful it was borderline irritating.

Itachi inclined his head in polite greeting. "Kakashi-senpai, Sakura, Menma."

Sakura started towards Itachi, concern in her eyes at his many burns and cuts, but he waved her off. "I'm fine. Take care of Sasuke."

She hesitated for a moment, but after Kakashi nodded to let her know it was alright she made her way to Sasuke's body, coating her hands with green chakra for a quick diagnostic. "Heart rate's normal, breathing is good, pupils aren't dilated," she muttered, almost to herself.

As Sakura continued treating her teammate Menma frowned, serious as ever, his icy gaze taking on a calculating glint. "Itachi-san, what exactly happened here? Why is Sasuke unconscious? Was there an enemy to Konoha?"

The last one would have been a welcome alternative. Then Sasuke wouldn't have been insane, and Orochimaru wouldn't have corrupted his mind. But Sasuke was, and Orochimaru did, so Itachi just sighed, unwilling to answer right away. Menma seemed to realize he wouldn't be making any progress at that moment, so he just left it at that.

Off to the side, Sakura declared Sasuke fit to travel as soon as he woke up.

Itachi fought back a wince, his discomfort surfacing on his features for the barest of seconds. It was enough to catch Kakashi's eye. "Why don't we rest a bit, Sakura," he proposed. "Itachi's probably tired. We should give him a chance to get his strength back."

"Yes, sensei."

Kakashi's eyes flashed to meet Itachi's, and quick signals were exchanged.

_'Danger?'_

_'Yes.'_

_'Who?'_

_'White Snake returned.'_

A slight pause as twitching fingers betrayed Kakashi's shock. Itachi didn't blame him.

_'Where?'_

_'Neutralized.'_

There was a glance at the small patch of soil that still burned with black fire.

_'Explain later.'_

_'Yes.'_

Sakura didn't notice the exchange, still occupied with propping Sasuke up against a nearby wall. Menma on the other hand _looked_ like he hadn't seen, but Itachi knew better. Nothing escaped that boy's gaze.

"Tsunade-sama won't be happy with the bill Konoha will receive for this," the teen observed, calculating eyes roving over burned and collapsed buildings and torn-up streets.

Itachi pressed a hand to his forehead with an exhausted sigh. "She won't be," he agreed.

_Sasuke, what are we going to do with you?_

* * *

**~o**0**O**0**o~**

**Author's Note: **_It's been forever, I know. Just remember, my stories never die unless I kill them myself._

_Anyway, who do you think has the worst deal right now? Canon!Sasuke or RtN!Sasuke? And why?_


End file.
